PressInfo

Photos © TFF 2000 Read PressInfo 90 “Lift the Sanctions and Bring More Aid to Yugoslavia” See Pictures from Belgrade © TFF 2000 Please reprint, copy, archive, quote or re-post this item, but please retain the source.

On Monday 26th June, the White House released a statement saying that the United States had “identified potential preparations for another chemical attack by the Assad regime…” It went on to say: “If, however, Mr. Assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price.” Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, followed that statement by tweeting, “Any further attacks done to the people of Syria will be blamed on Assad, but also on Russia & Iran who support him killing his own people.” On Tuesday morning, speaking on BBC 4 Today programme, the British Defence Minister Sir Michael Fallon was asked how Britain would respond to another American attack on Syria, and he responded “we will support” future US action in response to the use of chemical weapons in Syria. With these unsubstantiated statements on Syria, the Trump Administration...

A moment of world history missed by quite a few I was in Aleppo December 10-14, 2016 and the Eastern part was finally liberated on the 12th. Beyond any doubt, this was a world historic moment: because of Aleppo’s importance as city in Syria and the Middle East, its status as UNESCO World Heritage site, as turning point in the soon 6 year long war in and on Syria. And because of the almost 100.000 people who came out of 4,5 years of hell-like occupation and because of the sheer proportions of the destruction. Remarkably, there were no leading Western media present, also not those who were in Damascus and thus had a media visa. Most reported from very far away or from Beirut in neighbouring Lebanon, Istanbul or Berlin. I happened to be the only one from Scandinavia and among the first dozen of people – mostly media people...

This coming Sunday marks the 15th anniversary of what could be called the most counter-productive, if not stupid, war in modern history: The War On Terror. Today that war is much much more dangerous to the world’s future than the terrorists it is allegedly supposed to hunt down. And it has caused thousands of times more suffering, death and destruction – at least a million innocent people killed. It’s not a war on terrorism but on terrorists and that is as smart as trying to fight all diseases by killing patients. It’s a war fought without any consideration of the one big question: Why did they do it and why do they do it? Media and politics only asking: Who did it? How was it done? Where? How to respond? Without an intelligent, comprehensive diagnosis of 9/11 it could only go wrong. And it has. The next problem was that...

Something is rotten in the State of Denmark and the world will increasingly see it. It’s an unpleasant combination of Islamophobia, militarism and a peculiar ethical and intellectual self-destructive obedience to US/NATO all wrapped up in a pseudo-humanitarian flag. It’s important that intellectuals criticise the policies of their native country and not only and politically correctly criticise that of others. In the case of Danish foreign and security policy it is fairly easy to do so provided you are supported neither by that country’s state nor its corporations. Denmark to be aggressor in Syria – too On March 4, 2016 a large majority of Danish political parties agreed to send F16s and special forces to Syria. The decision is likely to soon be confirmed by the Danish parliament. The most important decision any government can take is the one to go to war. But that sort of thing is now routine in H.C....

Five years ago In 2011 when it all began, an educated conflict analyst or otherwise conflict competent person would have said about the conflict in Syria that it was a very complex thing, caused by history, environment, traumas, external factors, the economic situation, etc. And that al-Assad and his government was certainly an important reason but far from the only one. The conflict expert would have warned against at last four ways of thinking: a) any interpretation that put all the good people on one side and all the bad people on the other – because there are no conflicts in the world with only two such parties; b) any idea that the conflict could be solved by siding with the presumed good ones and going against the bad one(s); c) every attempt to ‘weaponise’ the conflict and increase the level of violence, the duration of the conflict and the human...

Introduction Sinbad is in his mid-20s and he took up studies in Europe before his native Syria began falling apart in senseless violence. He used to live in Damascus, his father being an officer in the Syrian Army but retired well before hell broke loose. Sinbad is one of his country’s many young intellectuals, extremely knowledgeable about international, regional and national politics and also a man who, from a distance, has done what he possibly could to maintain links with his society – which is not just Syria but civil society. Among other things he established a website on which everybody could dialogue freely under one condition: that they advocate political and other civil strategies and tools and no violence or expressions of hatred. It turned out to be very difficult to maintain such a website. Today he is disillusioned. He did not have the slightest hunch that the Arab...

The Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs withdraws organisational support for TFF, without prior consultation, motivation or documentation but with immediate effect. We intend to survive! September 22, 2000Jan ÖbergTFF’s global constituency and presence on Internet Reflections on the Support Campaign in the year 2000 September 22, 2000TFF SupportersIn their own voiceWhat people around the world wrote to and about TFF September 22, 2000Jan ÖbergAnalys av UD:s beslut om att slopa organisationsbidrag till TFF för år 2000 TFF PressInfo # 98Support Appeal Svensk Stödappell TFF PressInfo # 95Action Request – How You Can Help TFF Now TFF PressInfo # 94The Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Deprives TFF of Its Annual Organisational Grant – and Allocates Millions without Documentation TFF PressInfo # 94 (in Swedish)UD slopar stöd till TFF – och fördelar miljoner utan redovisning Arbetets ledarsida 26 maj 2000Mot en snävare debatt Arbetet 6 juni 2000Socialdemokratin svek idealen, idag jamsar man med...

(Denna text skrevs före inledningen av bombningarna i Afghanistan) Statsminister Göran Persson sände den 12 september ett kondoleansbrev, omedelbart efter terrorattackerna den 11 september. Sverige deltog också i EU:s uttalande. Det dröjde emellertid ända till den 22 september innan statsministern gjorde följande uttalande: Det är korrekt att FN:s säkerhetsråd erkände den konstitutiva rätten till individuellt och kollektivt självförsvar i enlighet med Stadgan i resolution 1368 den 12 september. Det betraktade också terrorhandlingarna som ett hot mot internationell fred och säkerhet. Resolutionen betonar vidare att de som är ansvariga för att hjälpa, stödja eller ge skydd åt förövarna, organisatörerna eller sponsorerna av dessa handlingar kommer att hållas ansvariga. I detta syfte uttrycker det at det – Rådet – är redo “att vidta alla nådvändiga åtgärder för att svara på terroristattackerna…” Men inte med ett ord ger resolutionen Förenta staterna någon rätt att svara på terrorattackerna genom att inleda ett “krig mot...

On 8th May the Iranian government’s spokesman revealed that the Iranian president had sent a letter [translation here] to President George Bush suggesting new ways of resolving the differences between the two countries. The 18-page long letter does not contain any new suggestions on Iran’s nuclear file, but has criticised some of the United States recent policies in the Middle East. US officials have summarily dismissed it as ‘rambling’ and not addressing the nuclear standoff. They have also indicated that they do not intend to respond to the letter. Ahmadinezhad’s letter is most significant However, the very fact that the hard-line Iranian president who had declared only a short time ago that there was no need to talk to the United States has decided to take this unusual step is of enormous significance, at least as a reflection of Iran’s internal politics. This is the first time in more than...

Of course, we all breathe a bit easier with the news of a ceasefire in Lebanon even if its prospects for stemming the violence altogether are not favorable at this time. And after dithering for 34 days while the bombs dripped and the rockets flew we need to acknowledge that the United Nations, for all of its weaknesses, plays indispensable roles in a wide array of international conflict situations. It is notable in this instance that despite Israel’s discomfort with UN authority, and the reluctance of the United States to accept any UN interference with its foreign policy priorities, as in Iraq, both countries were forced to turn to the UN when Israel’s war against Lebanon ran up against the unexpectedly strong Hezbollah resistance. At the same time this is certainly not a moment to celebrate the UN for fulfilling its intended role as dedicated to war-prevention and the defense...

For several decades now the world has been living with the illusion that the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) established a functioning treaty regime that has spared the world from nuclear danger. It is an illusion partly because three nuclear weapons aspirants (Israel, India, Pakistan) have kept clear of the treaty, and suffered no adverse consequences when they developed nuclear arsenals. On the contrary, President Bush’s proposed nuclear deal with India must be understood as a major diplomatic reward in spite of India’s crossing the nuclear weapons threshold. And Israel has been allowed to develop a formidable nuclear weapons arsenal while the West kept completely silent. But this is not the only concern. The NPT has generated a new set of pretexts for launching aggressive war. The invasion of Iraq in 2003 was mainly vindicated, in public at least, because of Baghdad’s stockpile of weapons of mass destruction and its covert nuclear...